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Jungle Cures
Jungle Cures, originally titled Dystopia, is a short story's rough draft written by Jewels on October 14, 2018. It was released on June 2, 2019. Prologue "6,000 years ago in the year of 2282, a plague spread across the city of Nordensyo and wiped out almost half of the population. Amongst the survivors was a woman named Juniper Johnson, who was determined to find a cure for all diseases in the world. "Her father was a doctor who specialized in herbs and medicine. He taught her about the exclusive herbs belonging to the dark Norrafil Forest and their special healing powers. So Juniper thought that if she combined all those herbs her father taught her about, it could possibly create a formula that can cure all illnesses. 'It could work,' she thought to herself, 'because nobody has ever dared enter the Norrafil Forest, meaning that they never tried mixing those herbs together.' "So after she gathered many of those herbs and mixed them together, she tried the formula herself and sure enough, it cured her of the plague. She made more from the plants and distributed it to the remaining survivors who were on the verge of dying. "Of course, it worked, and years later she was given the title of Nordensyo's chief and herbalist. As of Year 8282, the plants she's used is still unidentified to the public. However, humans today still maintain their health because of her son Evergreen Johnson. "He was the last known person in her family and the only person who knew her secret recipe before she passed. Evergreen wanted to keep her will of keeping the secret only to the Johnson family while keeping citizens healthy, so he found each source of the diseases. He kept them in an extremely secured safe and never opened it again, in fear of getting infected and contaminating others. This event is now known as the 'Great Solution.'" At least, that's what all the boring history textbooks say. I don't know what's true and what's not. I mean, how was Evergreen Johnson not infected when gathering those sources? Even if he wore a dust mask, wouldn't he be sick at the very least? And aren't some diseases caused by bugs? If he took each source and put them in a safe, why are there still bugs flying around now? Doesn't that prove history is completely false, that they're just made-up stories people thought were real so they put them in a big book that tortures students? But those are the last questions anyone would want to ask, especially in school, so I just keep it to myself. Really though, I do want to know the answers to those questions... I snap out of my cloud of thoughts when my Calculus teacher slaps my desk with his ruler and points at the projecting screen. "Pay attention, Kathreen Williams. This is the fifth time I've told you today." "I am paying attention, sir," I lied. "I was just thinking of how I can complete the square if it's missing the middle variable." "You're thinking about Algebra when we're learning about limits?" My teacher shook his head. He adjusted his glasses and continued to teach as I continued to drift back to my thoughts... What safe did Evergreen put the stuff in anyway? Does it still exist today? Is it in a museum, or is it just in a random space or corner? Is it— I get interrupted again (damn it) but this time, it was by a sudden alarm going off on my teacher's laptop. A serious-looking woman with a brown hair bun wearing a suit flickered on the screen, and she shuffled her papers. "Hello, it is Charmaine Bryge here with breaking news—this morning, we found a man who appeared to be sick. He begged to be saved, but as we all know, we no longer have hospitals after Evergreen Johnson placed all sources of infections in a secured case. That leads us to believe that a bug has somehow found its way through the metal door and has gotten infected, causing other bugs to be contaminated, leading to the infections of many citizens of Nordensyo. We advise you to stay indoors as this bug does not seem to appear inside residences as of 1:30 PM on October 1st of 8282. Thank you." See what I mean about the bugs? Chapter One About half a year later, everyone living in Nordensyo has been infected by the bugs. Plane tickets to Nordensyo were not for sale anymore, since the city is now known for everyone being plagued. The city was in a drought and food became scarce. There was nothing that could fix the problem, especially since nobody was trained to heal illnesses after the Great Solution. And even if a brave soul entered the Norrafil Forest to help, they would have no clue what herbs to gather. After all, Juniper Johnson's healing formula was a secret to everyone except her descendants. "Do you have food?" a man with a hoarse voice asked. Kathreen Williams shook her head and the man hoisted himself off the ground with all his energy to raise a fist. "I know you're lying! You're just tryna keep all of it to yourself!" "I'm sorry," she backed away, "I'm really don't have any." She crawled as far away from the man as possible while being kicked and pushed by the suffering Nordensyians. Kathreen landed in a pile of dried up leaves when she made her final leap of faith away from the crowd. She breathed quickly, blowing a wisp of her dirty blonde hair away from her face. She glanced up and held her breath as she entered the Norrafil Forest in front of her. Chapter Two Sticky mud stained her cracked hands and the crispy leaves left cuts on her palms. Something abruptly sounded. Perhaps a creature crying for help because of the drought, or a fierce animal about to attack? Kathreen shivered at the latter idea. She crept forward and noticed a glow coming from some of the plants. A dome? A stone behind the translucent dome had the words: "Herbs for curing formula; do not touch unless you are a descendant of Juniper Johnson. You will be repelled" carved on it. Kathreen bit her lip. She knew for a fact that she wasn't in any way blood-related to Juniper Johnson, but her curiosity overpowered her conscience. She lightly touched the dome, shutting her eyes tightly, preparing to suffer a back injury from the repulse. Nothing happened. She widened her eyes in shock when she realized her hand had passed through the dome. Kathreen gulped, stepped in, and watched as the dome behind her seemed to have disappeared. Could it be...? Chapter Three The student shook her head. She decided not to think about how she was somehow a descendant of Juniper Johnson for now; she had to do something to save her city, even if some of them are mad at her for not having food. Kathreen grabbed the herbs around the area and stuffed bits of them into her mouth. Miraculously, she stopped sweating excessively. Her eyes lit up. She could cure her city! Kathreen looked around for more of those herbs in the forest, and when she did, she placed all of them into her purse. Kathreen ran back to her house, unintentionally ignoring the people's cries, and mashed those plants in a big bowl. She filled little jars with the mixture, and fortunately, she had enough for everyone to have. Epilogue Years after the infection breakout, hospitals were reconstructed and Kathreen was now a popular herbalist and gardener. Scientists identified the plants she and her ancestors used as rosemary, thyme, hawthorn berries, and many others. Trivia *"Jungle Cures" was a project for Jewels' Biology class at the beginning of her Freshman year. It was previously called "Dystopia" because that was the assignment. *The writer plans to expand this story into at least 100 pages. Category:Stories